Only God – the One through whom “all things were made” (1:3, cf. v. 10), in whom “was life” and “light” (v. 4) – can reverse creation’s death and dissipate the darkness caused by sin. But since that death and darkness are within creation, within man, the Word must become flesh in order to restore it from within. The Creator must enter His own creation, groaning as it is under the burden of alienation from Him.